Changing Fates
by BelWriter
Summary: Ace is a White Stag that has a small control over the plants and he never was once part of the Spade Pirates. Challenge: Do a story on the 100 days before Ace became part of the Whitebeard pirates, but you have to make it so that Ace isn't part of the Spade Pirates and he hasn't eaten the Meru-Meru no Mi. You also have to make it so that Shanks plays a big part of Ace's life.
1. Chapter 1

Changing Fates

Summary: Ace is a White Stag that has a small control over plants and he never was once part of the Spade Pirates.

_Challenge: Do a story on the 100 days before Ace became part of the Whitebeard pirates, but you have to make it so that Ace isn't part of the Spade Pirates and he hasn't eaten the Meru-Meru no Mi. You also have to make it so that Shanks plays a big part of Ace's life._

**** Send in a challenge for any of the following and I'll write the story: One Piece, Rune Factory, Final Fantasy, The Last Story, XenoBlade ****

Rating: M

**Day 1) Being picked up the Whitebeard Crew!**

Ace sighed as he glanced at the Pirate Crew that had docked into the small town. He wasn't a pirate nor was he a marine, and thankfully for him, he wasn't a bounty hunter. He was just a simple traveler that did work for people for pay. He never had any interest in becoming a pirate, mainly because he had seen what horror pirates could perform and then leave like they never did anything, but he also knew that there were Marines that were just as bad with their greed and power.

"Hey; boy!" One of the drunken sailors called out to Ace, making the young freckled boy jump and turn to face the person who called him out. "Get me more grog!"

"I'm no bar-tender." Ace hissed out, "I don't know where the alcohol is."

"Well to bad, freckled-boy," the drunken man leered at Ace, making the young man want to toss-up what little he had for lunch, "if you're not going to get me grog, then you may as well do something else that's going to be satisfying!"

"One word for you; no." Ace frowned and glared at the man and smacked his hand away from his rear. "I know you're a pirate, but I'm not one for such acts."

"No fun" the man grinned, "but I like the feisty ones!"

_Here we go again…_ Ace thought cynically as the man stood up and drew his sword from its sheathe, making Ace smirk. "If you draw your weapon, you better know how to use it. Swords aren't a toy." Ace taunted the man while dodging the swings while recalling what a man had once said when Ace's younger brother was kidnapped.

"What would you know?!" The man frowned and his swings began to speed up and Ace narrowed his eyes as he tried to watch the blades movements so he could dodge.

"I would know that I can kick your ass any second I want to." Ace smirked and to prove his point, he moved forward and grabbed the hilt of the man's sword and twisted so that Ace could jab his elbow into the man's gut. When the grip on the sword slacked, Ace twisted again so he could get the sword out of the man's grasp and turned around to place the blade at the neck of his offender. "Does that tell you what I know?"

"What- how?!" The man's eyes were wide and fear was clearly written into them.

"Never start something unless you have the will to go through with it." Ace frowned as removed the blade from the man's neck and dropped it while walking away to front of the bar, trying his hardest to ignore the fact that everyone in the bar had gone quiet and that all eyes were on the very quick less than thirty-second fight.

Ace also tried to ignore the fact that one set of eyes had him on edge. A set of eyes, which, he knew would lead to something life-changing for the man. Something Ace knew he would want, but couldn't willing accept with ease.

Only, he hadn't known that the eyes belonged to the First Division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates that had docked on one of the sister island within eye-sight of the brother island or that the man had left the bar shortly after Ace did with a smile on his face.

- - This is a line break! - -

Ace sighed as he leaned against one of the many trees that dotted the island he was one, and it very much reminded him of his home town of Foosha.

Foosha. That name made Ace smile as he began to think of the connotation of the name. Foosha Village. Dawn Island. Makino. Luffy. Shanks. Sabo.

That last name made Ace frown a little, one of his two brothers, but this one was dead. He had died in a cage on gold and nobility, both things that Sabo had never wanted. All Sabo had ever wanted, and what Ace and Luffy had both wanted as well, was freedom.

Freedom which all three boys knew that didn't have, and couldn't have without great troubles.

While Ace knew he had more freedom than his only living fourteen year old brother, he was still bound by blood to his father's legacy and curse. That thought made Ace frown, so he quickly shook his head of the thoughts and closed his eyes to remember the people he had left behind when he turned seventeen less than five months ago.

Makino, The bar-maid of Dawn Island that was more like a tiger protecting her cubs. It was Makino that had taught Ace manners and how to fight with weapons (to a degree).

Luffy was Ace's only remaining brother and there was nothing in the world that would change how precious the boy was to Ace. Sure, Luffy might be annoying as heck, made of rubber, and clueless about everything around him, but Ace wouldn't want anything to change.

Shanks. Now THAT was a name that made Ace smile and blush at the same time. It was Shanks that saved Luffy's life at one point at the exchange of his arm (and hat, but that was a different story) and it was Shanks that had taught Ace how to read, write, do math, fight and all sorts of other things alongside Luffy (but he didn't pay attention at all to those lessons). It was Shanks that Ace owed the most, and Ace had vowed that if he ever worked up the courage to enter the Grand Line, he would find Shanks and thank him properly for everything the man had done for him.

Ace kept his eyes closed as he dragged himself out of his happy reminiscing, when he heard a twig snap and then something metal being freed from something else metal. That was all it took for Ace to open his eyes and rush forward to dodge the barrage of attacks aimed at the tree he was near. Without turning back, since Ace had known it was a group of people who had come to get payback for the humiliating bar fight that had happened an hour or so ago, Ace shifted to his Zoan form and bounded off at a stunning speed, his white coat and ivory-like horns the last thing that the group has seen.

Again, Ace had felt the eyes on him from the bar, but instead of being from any side of him, Ace felt the warm, yet dangerous, eyes on him from above, and once Ace had entered a clearing, Ace looked up and got to see a giant blue flying… was it a chicken that was on fire? And, why was the fire blue and yellow?

When the bird noticed Ace had stopped running, the giant bird spiraled downward and Ace was on guard as the bird landed on the ground a few feet away from Ace and let his fire, which was both soft and cool, lick the hooves of Ace's feet in a careful greeting.

"Greetings, Ace." The bird shifted and spoke, and Ace came to the very quick conclusion that the bird was actually a human who ate a Zoan Fruit, much like him. "Can you shift as well so we can talk?"

Ace snorted at this and took a small step back, which the blond haired, sleepy-eyed man noticed and he sat down with his hands up in the air, "I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, Pops has an offer he wants to extend to you after your little stunt in the bar."

Ace frowned at this, and glanced behind him as his ears lifted, checking for the sounds of a group of people moving, and didn't hear anything other than the ambient noises of the forest. Feeling at ease, and knowing that the man wasn't going to attack him with his fire, Ace shifted forms and glanced at the man on the ground with narrow eyes. "What would this offer happen to be?"

"He'd like you to come aboard the Moby Dick and think about becoming one of his sons." Ace resisted the urge to leap at the man and strangle him at the mention of having a father.

"I refuse." Ace said rather quickly, and Ace noticed it so he quickly added on, "I have a man I'll call father, and I'm highly sure that the man you call Pops isn't the man I'll call father."

"Then will you still come aboard the Moby Dick, and how do you know that the person isn't the same?" The sleepy-eyed man with the soothing fire asked, and Ace didn't want to admit the fire was rather pleasant.

"The man's ship is known as the Red Force, and last I checked, you aren't a crew member of Shanks." Ace chuckled lightly at the thought of the man before him being part of Shanks' crew, but the man had a different reaction.

"…Red-Haired Shanks?"

"The one and only."

"… So you're the brat he yaps about all the time…" the man sighed, "Pops is going to laugh at this."

"Pardon?"

"Pops is a Yonkou just like Shanks." The man shrugged, "I'm Marco, by the way, yoi."

"Sorry, but you know my name." Ace shrugged and glanced to the right a bit, and shifted into his Zoan form again and let out an earth-shaking howl that one would not normally expect from something that looks like a deer, and the trees around both Ace and Marco swayed and bent in an unbelievable manner and the next thing Marco knew, there was three blades stuck in one of the trunks of a nearby tree.

Ace let out another noise, a much softer and much more pleasant one, and Marco got the feeling on what Ace was trying to say: Get out of here.

Without a second thought about it, Marco nodded and also went into his Zoan form and flew off while Ace bounded after him from the ground, unaware that Marco was leading Ace right where he wanted: The Moby Dick.

When Ace figured out where Marco was going, Ace didn't have the grace of being able to turn around and bound off in another direction. Mad, Ace resigned himself to accepting the fact that, dammit, Marco had gotten Ace to the Moby Dick, and now what he was there, he had no reason to say no to Whitebeards offer.

"Get the deer! Forget about the bird!" One man called out, and from the voice, Ace could tell that the man wasn't just your average hunter of animals or bounties (not that Ace had one- he'd been careful to keep a low profile), but a hunter of a legend of great fortune and un-yielding luck (which Ace seemed to have given all to Luffy if the young child's devil-luck was any indicator).

_What an idiot… but since I'm already in this form…_ Ace frowned slightly as he recalled that the last time he had tried this particular technique it had backfired on him and the vines had whipped more than just his attacker and gave Ace his current deep purple bruise on his lower back and thigh.

Thankfully for Ace, a giant white ship came within sight and Marco, still in his giant blue chicken form swooped down to Ace's level and tried his best to convey that the ship was his destination. With a nod from Ace, Marco flew back up and over the railing of the Moby Dick as Ace jumped up, bypassing the railing that was there for everyone else, and landed next to Marco in his human form.

"Son, who is this?" A rather deep voice called Ace onto alert, but Marco had placed a hand on Ace's forehead and let his fire calm down the Stag.

"Pops, this would be Ace, yoi." Marco turned to the hunters as they stopped before the ship with flustered faces and panting. "And they aren't any problem to us, yet."

"Ace, is it?" The man called 'Pops', or better known as Whitebeard, laughed and the entire ship held a light rumble in it. Ace couldn't tell if the rumble was a good thing or a bad thing, but with the combination of Marco's calming-Fire, the happy aura of the crew that had gathered to see the White Stag that had just jumped up onto the deck of the ship, and the light rumble, Ace decided that, _yes_, this rumble is a good thing, and relaxed into the fire with eyes closed.

"I thought you said Ace was a person…?" a man with his hair hanging out in the front, kind of like a rack, asked as he stared at Marco and then at Ace, and then at Marco again. "He looked more like…"

"A Stag?" Ace asked as he shifted out of his Zoan form and smirked at the mad had jumped in the air with a small shriek.

"I take it you accept my offer?" Whitebeard asked as he gazed at Ace with eyes that held an emotion Ace had only seen on one man- Shanks.

"I refuse for the time being," Ace started with a frown, "I refuse to call anyone either captain or father when they haven't earned the respect for it." Marco was going to say something, along with the rack-hair-styled man, but Ace cut them off again, "Before you ask, I judge based on what I see, not what is given to me by another."

"A wise brat!" Whitebeard laughed, and then Marco said the one thing that Ace wished he hadn't told Marco.

"He's the brat Shanks goes on and on about."

That made Whitebeard laugh come to an abrupt halt and the giant man stared at Ace for a few seconds, the warm and tender look in his eyes never fading, and then began to laugh again.

"Here I figured that the brat was going to be younger!"

"Well, sorry for being seventeen!" Ace hissed out in annoyance at the implication that Shanks kept calling him by that stupid nickname, _Kitten_.

"It's not meant to be rude," Whitebeard laughed, "it's just means that the snot-nosed brat still views you as his child!"

"I know that…" Ace mumbled with a small sigh, blush and smile. Then something hit him like a stack of bricks. "Wait… Snot-nosed brat…" Ace couldn't help the grin and laugh that came from him, "So you're the same Newgate that the guy talks about!"

"Oh? And what does he say?" Whitebeard asked with a raised brow. The Two Yonkou's, despite being a Yonkou, were on somewhat good terms and could have a pleasant conversation when Shanks didn't knock out his crew when the red-haired man came to visit.

"That…" Ace trailed off and tried to recall something that the man didn't say when drunk, but couldn't come up with something nice when sober.

"That what, child?" Whitebeard felt he knew what Ace was about to say, but almost did a double take at what Ace said.

"That you're a senile old man who cares more for what you call family than you do anything else." Ace's voice sounded a little thin, like he was re-wording things and leaving things out. Marco blinked and then chuckled something along the lines of 'that fits the man' while the rack-haired man smacked his face and shook his head.

"Well, senile may not be true yet, but that second part is true!" Whitebeard laughed, and Ace began to feel a familiar feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. "Thatch!" The rack-haired man jumped and turned to face Whitebeard, "Since Ace will be staying with us for a bit, why don't you lead him to the spare room?"

"Got it! Come on!" Thatch had on a giant smile on his face that reminded Ace of one of Luffy's blinding smiles, and Ace couldn't help the smile that came on his own face as Thatch dragged him around the Moby Dick showing the guy more than just where the room he was going to be staying was.

As Marco watched Ace get dragged off by Thatch, Whitebeard turned his attention to the group of hunters that were trying to enter his ship.

"Marco, who are these people?"

"Hunters I would guess…" Marco shrugged, "After Ace more likely."

"Of course we are!" One man huffed, "do you even know the story of the White Stag?!"

"Don't care." Marco yawned as he stretched and waited for Pops decision on what to do with the invaders, and was pleasantly surprised when Whitebeard took the incentive to knock the people off his ship and into the ocean.

"… Do I need to go grab Ace's things, or are we not sailing off with him?" Marco asked as he lazily watched the group of people that were just knocked overboard thrash around in the water as they tried to stand back up.

"I don't think he'll take well to being kidnapped without his stuff" Whitebeard laughed again, something Marco noticed that he was doing a lot of these weeks. "Go grab some basic stuff of his and come back."

With a small 'Aye', Marco shifted and flew off; following a scent trail that only he could smell due to his heightened senses due to being a phoenix, Marco was honestly surprised when the scent ended at a medium-sized yellow arrow-like boat with plants growing in it. Along the side on the boat was lettering in bright orange that spelt out 'Striker' and from the fact that there was no Marine mark on the folded sail nor was there a jolly roger, Marco assumed that Ace was just trying to be a simple traveler.

Marco took a quick look around the ship and frowned at the lack of personalization, other from the plants growing on what looked like a one-man ship, and wondered if he should bring the ship with him, just in case Ace decided somewhere along the lines of being a guest that he wanted a bit of time on his own or wanted to leave.

Going with the feeling that it was alright for something like that to happen, even if Marco didn't want something like that to happen, Marco unhooked the ship from the dock, despite the protest of the dock manager, and pulled the ship of the docks and to the Moby Dick where Izo gave the bird a confused look.

"I thought Pops said to bring something that belongs to Acey?" Izo frowned at the ship and Marco just shrugged as he shifted and stood on the Striker.

"It was the only thing I could find."

"… well, let's get this yellow thing somewhere where it won't cause too much trouble." Izo sighed as he helped Marco find a location to out the boat and then secured it to the Moby Dick.

- - Lookie! Here I am again! - -

When dinner rolled around, Thatch was somewhat surprised to not see Ace or Marco, or Pops or Namur around. Marco always went to dinner, if for no other reason to make sure there was no fighting breaking out in the Galley. Pops would always join in the Galley if for no other reason than to be with his numerous sons at the same time and to eat dinner with them like a real family would. Namur normally joined dinner when there was something worth it, and that was just because Namur was naturally cautious of humans since he was a fish-man.

Ace however, caught Thatch's attention the most for some reason. The boy was missing from the Galley (that or he just couldn't find the cute freckled black-haired man; and Thatch was willing to admit he thought Ace was cute) and so were people who normally joined in dinner. Unsettled by this little fact no one seemed to notice, Thatch took out a tray from the kitchen and filled it with four plates of food and went off with tray in hand to find the four missing people, only to find all four on the deck sitting down and talking. Marco, Namur and Whitebeard looked a little tense and Ace was staring at Namur with a look of something in his eyes.

"Ace, this is Namur." Marco broke the tense silence, "Namur, this is Ace."

"Nice to meet you, Namur!" Ace smiled at the fish-man and that threw everyone, except Whitebeard, off.

"Nice… to meet you too…" Namur shifted a little, which Ace caught and scooted away from the man a little.

"Sorry about that, I just didn't think I've ever come across a Pirate crew of humans who treat a fish-man as an equal. It's a nice change." Ace rubbed the back of his and looked a little sheepish, "Do let me know if I get too close."

"Wait…" Marco blinked, "You don't mind that Namur is a fish-man?"

"Why would I?" Ace frowned and before Ace could explain why, Thatch cut in.

"Because most people are taught at a young age that Fish-men are nothing but animals that are meant to serve humans." Thatch frowned at this, "and most people try to sell Fish-men for the money."

"I was raised by Shanks and we once visited Fish-man Island so Shanks could prove to me that humans weren't the most diverse species out there." Ace chuckled, "It was a huge eye-opener and I made a few friends there. I can't see why I'd be upset that Namur is welcomed here."

This made everyone smile and Thatch handed out the plates of food as Thatch tried to pry Ace for information on how he and Shanks met and some of the adventures he went on with the Yonkou.

"Well…" Ace rubbed the back of his head and blushed, "I guess I met him when he docked at Dawn Island when I was younger…" Aces chuckles held a nervous tone and that made people who noticed it want to know more. "I, uh… stole Shanks' hat and he caught me."

"You what?!" Marco nearly yelled as he dropped the fork he was holding back onto the plate. Marco knew, as did everyone else on the Moby Dick that were sitting on the deck, that Shanks was highly protective of the hat he got from Roger.

"Yeah, well…" Ace shrugged, "I got to live." Ace mumbled as he stared in awe at the food that was handed to him, and Thatch took it as in insult.

"My food is highly edible and most delicious." Thatch huffed, "so stop looking like you've gotten wind of poisoned food."

"Sorry!" Ace's eyes snapped open and he faced Thatch, "it's not that, it's just…" Ace mumbled the rest of his sentence, which Marco caught and winced.

"How are you still alive?!" Marco's voice shocked everyone by how much disbelief and horror was laced into it, "How does one live on that?!"

"I turned into the Stag and ate?" Ace shrugged, "it's mostly true."

"I don't want to know…" Thatch mumbled and when everyone settled down again, began to idly chat about any and everything that wasn't considered taboo, which was mostly Shanks and Whitebeard.

- - I'm back, again! - -

After dinner, Marco and Thatch were giving Ace a full, proper, tour of the Moby Dick and even showed Ace where his small ship was hanging, to which Ace was confused.

"How did you find Striker?" Ace turned to Marco, knowing full well that Thatch couldn't have gotten his little baby since he was on the Moby Dick the entire time.

"I'm a phoenix. I've got heightened senses; you should know this full well." Marco shrugged to which Ace rubbed the back of his head sheepishly since he had honestly forgotten that the Devil Fruit he ate caused his senses to increase and become heightened.

After that, Marco showed Ace to his room since Thatch had too much showing Ace around, he had forgotten to show the young man to his own room- which Whitebeard believed should be the room the second division commander once used when the crew had a second division commander.

Wishing Marco a fair night, Ace looked around the room after the door shut and noticed how both simple and void of personalization.

There was a simple, mostly white, bed in the rightmost corner of the room and directly left of the bed, against the back most wall was a simple writing desk that has a wooden stool for a chair. There was a drawer that held mostly plain white clothing (why white on a pirate ship, Ace didn't want to ask) that looked much too big for him to wear. Thankfully Ace had some spare clothing in a small compartment on the Striker.

Kicking off his shoes and laying down on the bed, laying his head on his arms, Ace closed his eyes and listened to the ambient noises of people walking past the room and the gentle lull of the waves and ocean.

Ace stayed like this for a few minutes before a thought entered his head.

"… I think I just was willing kidnapped…"


	2. Chapter 2

**** If you have a suggestion for a chapter, do say so! I like getting suggestions (and it helps me stop getting writers block!) for my stories and I normally try to add suggestions into the main plot, but if I can't it'll go into an extra down at the bottom! ****

**** ! #$%^ Microsoft Word! Ace is a word! So PLEASE STOP TRYING TO CORRECT THE NAME! ACE DOES NOT EQUAL AMY OR ARCE! Also, who the heck taught my Laptop that Marco means Pineapples? ****

**** Each chapter IS a full day, so some may be highly long and others short. Sorry! (I'm not really Sorry, okay?) ****

Notes: I'm already poking fun at Marco. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! Second day = Poke fun at Marco day! (Okay, any day is a good day to make fun of the blue flaming chicken with a pineapple head and bored expression…!)

**Day 2) I needed a better title than nothing so I put this here**

When Ace awoke, his vision was messed up. Everything was blurry and it was all tilted and there was a tall pole sticking its gloriously dark brown face right into Ace's vision that was taking up most of his field of vision. Blinking to clear it, Ace let out a small whine and realized that he had shifted into his Zoan form in his sleep. Again. Marisa, the bar maid, was going to throw a fit and then make Ace pay for what damages he caused by any thrashing his horns around, yet again.

What a glamourous way to start the morning. But, why was the bed foot not brown but black?

Ace lay still for a few moments trying to get his vision to clear out, and let out another low whine when he realized that he couldn't shift out of his Zoan form due to not being fully awake and that he was tangled in blankets that were much warmer and softer than normal. Trying to recall the previous day's events, Ace came up with a blank. Did he change locations again? If so, where was he? Who hired him this time? Was he going to have to go through a new island without a single Beri to pay for things again?

Ace was taken out of his musing when he caught the scent of a man, if the faint musk was anything to go off of, which smelled like flowers. Ace tried to turn his head, but his antlers got caught under whatever he was facing that had an unmoving pole attached to it, and Ace inwardly panicked and thought of something that he didn't want to be true. Did the hunters finally catch him? No… Ace didn't feel hurt in anyway other than his confusion.

"You alright there?" The man had worry in his voice, and Ace figured the person couldn't have been a hunter since the hunters wouldn't give a damn about Ace's well-being. Or, maybe the man really was a hunter and just wanted to make sure that the nobles that Ace was going to get sold to enjoyed the Stag being in perfect condition, but that had happened only once, and after that hunter learned that the 'White Stag' was really just a Devil Fruit user, let Ace go under the assumption that Ace wasn't what the noble had wanted.

It was the thought of the hunters that made Ace snap and he worked the energy to fight against the blankets holding him and inwardly winced when he heard the telltale sound that Ace broken something- maybe whatever it was that his antler got caught on hopefully.

"Calm down, white deer." The flower-smelling man spoke gently and for some reason, the gentle and calm tone slowly worked it magic as Ace started to stop thrashing around and clam down Ace enough that he wasn't pissed at being called Female. The man then grabbed the blankets and quickly, but also carefully so he didn't rub up against the antlers Ace had, untangled Ace from the blankets and backed off as Ace moved away from the bed he was under and stood up.

By now, Ace had a clear view of the room he was in, and he tilted his head in confusion as he tried to think about why he was in a room that a held a slight gentle sway and a salty smell, much like the ocean.

The ocean. That thought made Ace quickly remember Whitebeard and his offer. Ace jumped up and looked at the person before him. The man was rather tall, but still smaller than the giant elderly man he had met yesterday that kept being called 'Pops'. The man gave off the appearance of being a 'gentle gentleman' (Ace inwardly winced at the bad pun) but the two swords and how the man held himself upright gave off the feeling of being a seasoned fighter.

"There you go; no need to panic." The man smiled faintly, and Ace would have missed it if he hadn't been directly looking at the man's face. "I just need to know if you've seen a young man in this room, I need to bring him to the Galley…" The man chuckled, "oops, there I go again, talking to animals."

"Sorry..." Ace responded after a few moments of silence and after he had found himself awake enough to shift out of his Zoan form, which startled the man and made him jump. "I find myself shifting in my sleep often."

When the man managed to get reality back into his head, the man nodded in understanding. "Don't tell him I said this, but Marco had the same troubles. Is it a Zoan thing?"

"I think so…" Ace rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "at least I don't set things on fire."

"Bah, Marco's flames heal and are rather easy to manage." The man shrugged and extended his hand to Ace, "Oh, apologizes for not introducing myself. I'm Vista."

Ace smiled softly and shook the hand that Vista had offered, "I'm Ace. Forgive me for being blunt, but are you aware you smell of flowers? It's not a common smell for someone who's male." Vista seemed a little taken back by this, but just as quickly as the look of shock was on his face, humor replaced it and the man let out a warming laugh.

"You're the third to tell me this!" Vista laughed, "Marco was the first."

"Figures!" Ace joined in on the laughter but then abruptly stopped when his stomach protested in being hungry. "… Um… where was this Galley?"

Vista led Ace down to the Galley where the two were greeted with a very strange sight (to Ace that is, Vista was fully used to it). Thatch, if Ace remembered correctly- who else has a Pompadour styled haircut on the Moby Dick? – was in the middle of doing… something Ace didn't want to identify this early in the morning, to some chick in a kimono. Ace had half a mind to forget that he was hungry and leave the Galley when Marco came up and handed a plate of food to both Vista and Ace.

"Ignore them, yoi." Marco motioned to the commanders table, "come on, sit down, and enjoy the food."

"How…" Ace trailed off, eyes turning to face Thatch and the chick and then to Marco in hope his question would be understood. Thankfully, it seemed it was understood a little too well as Marco turned to Thatch and the girl and quickly told them to stop with a silent threat underlining the request.

"Ah, the new kid!" The chick spoke up when Thatch disengaged from her and the voice sounded feminine but that was only in its soft tone. The person in a kimono was male?!

"His name is Ace, yoi." Marco frowned, "and he's not a part of the crew yet." Ace was going to cut in and say that he hasn't made a single point of interest in joining the crew, but the faint look of interest and hope that Ace might join was held in Marco's eyes, and Ace had to turn his face from the man just to avoid getting fully captivated by the eyes that told much more than they should have. Dammit, Ace was going to curse Mihawk for the rest of the 'World's Greatest Swordsman's' life for the damn habit of reading eyes Ace had to develop.

That look was hopeful and held something familiar in it, and that was enough to inwardly melt Ace, and Ace would have given into the warmth he felt if it wasn't for the fact that he was standing on a pirate ship; and Ace knew pirates. No matter how friendly they may be, give them even the slightest show of weakness, and that was all fate wrote. The only pirate that disobeyed that rule in Ace's book was Shanks. That man was a pirate, yes, but he had given up his arm and beloved hat to Ace's younger brother just so the child could live, and laugh about it.

That compassion was the greatest weakness in Ace's opinion. Then again, it takes a great kind of strength to laugh at losing your own arm when in the water.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Izo!" The she-man smiled and extended a hand to Ace after he walked up close enough. Ace took the hand hesitantly and nearly lost his balance at what Izo said next. "Can I call you Acey?"

"Wh-"

"Don't ask, yoi." Marco quickly placed a hand on Ace's mouth, "just nod and walk away." Ace blinked at this, but did as told and the rest of breakfast went without much of a hitch.

- Woot! I'm writing this story again! Now, to work on my others, stupid Writers Block! -

Ace stretched in his Stag form, and had to fight off the urge to rub his antlers against the railings and get the old layer off so the weight at the top of his head could vanish and he could lift his head up all the way. That or he could ask someone of a bit of help and hope he doesn't leave them with wounds enough to look like the person got into a fight with a wild Raptor and almost lost.

Ignoring the aching pain to tend to his antlers, Ace shifted out of his Zoan form and stood up and walked up to the front and almost doubled over in laughter at what the sight that greeted him. Whitebeard, however, didn't hold back in letting out his deep jovial laughter.

Thatch was laughing his ass off while running from an enraged, pink and sparkly, Marco.

Pink and sparkles. That was something that Ace didn't often see on people, and it seemed that Ace wasn't the only one trying hard to hold back laughs and due to the familiar way people moved out of the way of Marco and Thatch, Ace figured that something like this happens all the time.

Speaking of which, Ace hadn't been there for even a full 'official' day, but Ace had already noticed the atmosphere the crew held, due to having had to raise Luffy, which was that of a caring family. It confused Ace greatly, but he wasn't going to voice out his mind. Not to pirates. He would observe them, and if they proved correct to the family-like atmosphere, then Ace would relax and voice honesty with them. If they weren't and all this was just a ruse to deception, Ace would have kept his guard up and would come out fine.

But… Could there be more than one type of pirate? After all, weren't all pirates just scum? Ace knew that _that_ man was nothing but scum, and because of him Ace's life was a kind of hell that only the worst kind of demon could bring forth without being nicknamed Satan. Ace didn't want to think about that, because, what kind of Pirate was _he_ if there was more than one kind pf pirate? Then again, there was always Shanks, and that man didn't fit into the description Ace had formed of pirates. Neither did Mihawk for that matter…

"Oi! Watch out! There's-" Ace's inner musing were cut off as a giant blue flaming chicken was cannonballed into Ace's stomach, knocking Ace over onto his rear while losing the breath in his lungs. "-Marco heading your way… You okay, kid?"

The man, now that Ace could see him, was some creepy guy with such a dark aura about him it made Ace shiver slightly, which went unnoticed by the man and noticed by Marco, who in phoenix form, looked up at Ace with a curious look in his eyes.

"Y-yeah…" Ace managed to speak when the air got back into his lungs and when he managed to keep his shaking to a minimum.

"So, you're Ace by any chance?" the man grinned and Ace noticed a few missing teeth and the man's foul breath that Ace almost wanted to classify as 'acidic'.

"Y-yeah…" Ace inwardly cursed himself for stuttering in front of the pirate that gave him such an icky feeling. There went the 'don't show any weakness' rule Ace had mentally made. "Why do you ask?" Ace mentally cheered himself when he noticed his voice didn't break or stutter.

"Well, if you're fine, then I guess you won't need to go to the infirmary or anything… Flying Marco's do hurt when they ram into your gut." The man let out a crackle- Ace flat out refused to register that creepy and dark laugh as a laugh in his mind- and walked off leaving Ace clutching tightly onto Marco, which Ace didn't even realize he was doing until Marco lightly poked Ace's hands.

"Sorry Marco…" Ace let go of Marco with slight reluctance and watched as Marco shifted and extended his hand out to Ace to help the young man up.

"It's fine, yoi. Want to explain what happened?" Marco's voice held nothing but worry and curiosity, "You almost suffocated me, yoi."

"Again, sorry, and it's nothing." Ace rubbed the back of his head with a frown, "just a feeling." That last statement must have sparked interest in Marco because instead of backing off like Ace expected, Marco took Ace's arm and helped the boy onto his feet and continued the conversation in a different direction.

"Ever heard of Haki?" Ace blinked at the term, Shanks had also mentioned something about this 'Haki' before and that Ace it was a good chance that Ace could very well have all three forms of whatever the heck Haki was.

"Yeah… Shanks mentioned it a few times, why?" Ace was really curious. What was Marco trying to imply? That he really did have Haki and he was just using what, if Ace remembered correctly, was called Observation Haki.

"Because sometimes it's better to act on an odd feeling and suffer the consequences than to wait and regret much more severe consequences later, yoi." Marco replied with a tired look on his face. "But you're wrong. You're not the only one Teach rubs the wrong way without having done anything." With that, Marco walked off, leaving Ace to watch the sea in relative peace.

Thatch and Marco went at it again in less than five minutes, and this time it was a flying Thatch that hit him. Wanting peace, Ace ignored the fight (much too a few people's amusement) and went back to the room that was dubbed 'his' for the time being. Why it was the second division commander's room, Ace didn't want to know it was a warning to the future or to the past.

When he arrived in his room, Ace expected to find the room empty so he could lay on the bed and rest, but that wasn't what greeted him. Two people, a young girl that was much shorter than him and the kimono-clad male that was in a heated 'dance' with Thatch this morning, were lazing around the room and looked the most pleased to see Ace.

"Acey!" Izo grinned and pulled Ace into the room and shut the door with a slight slam and pushed Ace onto the bed, and instantly Ace was on high alert. What were the two planning to do? Was Ace right in assuming-

"Want to help us pull a prank on Marco and Thatch?"

Ace's brain went onto overload and froze. A prank? Ace then remembered the saying 'Assume and you make an ass out of you and me' (and by 'me' the self-mind was normally meant) and let out a breath.

"Uh… depends on what you mean by that…" Ace would be lying if he said he wasn't interested; he was, but he wanted to know what heckle he was getting himself involved in.

"Well, here's the thing, Thatch is always pulling a prank on Marco, so we're going to get scot-free if no one laughs this time and screws up," The young girl spoke up and looked a little sheepish when she mentioned the laughing part, "so, what we're planning to do is to dye all the fourth division's clothing pink and all of first division clothing will smell like pineapples. Wait, should we do it the other way around? Anyways, besides the point right now, want to help?"

"… I'm going to regret this… but sure." Ace shrugged, "It seems fun to poke fun at the guy."

"Great!" The girl spoke up, "I'm Haruta, by the way."

"Sorry about the morning display." Izo quickly cut off Haruta from making a long rant about what type of 'prank' they would pull, but the pink and pineapples seemed like a good idea if it wasn't going to be obvious that Izo had helped Haruta with the dying, again. "I hope it didn't make you too uncomfortable."

"Nah," Ace waved it off, "I've got nothing against same-gendered relationships." Ace glanced at the door with a quick nervous look that both people in his room caught, "I just… I'm not used to seeing public displays."

No one said anything for a few moments as a slight feeling of dread began to fill Haruta, a dread that the little girl knew all too well. Ace was about to ask the one question on one asks Izo unless they want a full blown-over lecture about how people should stop commenting on what someone chose to wear.

"I don't mean this as an insult," Ace started and Haruta began to inwardly judge Izo's reactions on what Ace was going to say. "But why do you wear a kimono if you're a guy?"

Haruta blinked at the non-stuttered question and inwardly winced. Izo was going to chew the poor kid's ear off.

"Do you have a problem with my dressing choice?" Izo's eye twitched as Ace quickly put his hands in the air and shook his head.

"Not what I meant!" Ace quickly said in defense, "All I want to know is why someone would be alright being mistaken as the opposite gender!"

Haruta froze at this. Either Ace was just blind, or he knew how to flatter people's choice in clothing while insulting them.

"I'm sorry… what?" The face Izo made at that moment was too much for Haruta, so she did the best think that popped into her mind. Laugh.

"I just mean… I've seen a lot of people who like to cross-dress and go all out… but… I honestly… I never…" Ace trailed off while trying to find the right words to not get his ass kicked, "I don't think I've met someone, before you, who could pull it all off and not look like they were caked in makeup and move around with ease."

Izo seemed a little taken back by this, but smiled when he managed to wrap his head around what Ace meant, but then saw a chance to see if the teen had in sense of humor in him at all. "Sorry, but I'm taken."

"GAH!" Ace's face bright red, and Izo let out a full bellied laugh that made Haruta smile. It had been awhile since Izo let out one of his deeper laughs, and the girl rather liked them. Thatch too. "I'm not even interested in any form of a relationship!" Ace quickly crossed his arms over his face, which looked rather horrified to the only two observers in the room.

However, before Izo could make any more smart remarks that were going to damage Ace's poor brain that was already on paranoia, Haruta cut in. "Come on!" She whined, "I'd like to get this prank done and over with BEFORE Marco figures out we're planning to prank him and Thatch!"

- Lookie! I'm back! -

Everything went smoothly for the three, in fact, it went a little too smoothly. So smoothly that Ace was starting to wonder when it would run out, and Ace didn't want to be holding the pile of pink clothing that belong to the first division commander. Izo and Haruta had decided that getting the pineapple scent to stick in the division's bunking room and not fade out in less than an hour wasn't a task that Ace could do without getting caught. Why then, they decided to make Ace dye the first division's ENTIRE set of clothing PINK when the first division was more aware than any of the other division, Ace didn't know.

Thankfully, Ace only had Marco's clothing to put back into their drawers and then he was done. Done, and hopefully not going to get busted.

Good fortune must have been shining down on Ace that day because not only was Marco not in his room, but he hadn't come across anyone in first division. That, or they were watching him and Izo and Haruta were going to lay blame full blame on him for the pink (which was a bit obvious at the moment) and the pineapples.

Working quickly, Ace refolded all off Marco's clothing, which thankfully weren't many (thank god the man didn't wear socks and shirts!), put them back in their respective drawers and then left the room, leaving the door just as slightly cracked open as it was when Ace first entered the room, and prayed to the gods of luck that were smiling at him at this moment that Marco did NOT come back to his room any time soon.

Thankfully, all three pranksters got away with their prank and everything was silent until dinner, when a frustrated cry came booming over the Moby Dick and making everyone in the Galley turn to the wide double doors, only to see an angry Marco.

Ace tried to repress the shaking that wanted to come out from the sheer bloodlust that was in the blonds eyes.

"Alright, who did it?!" Marco's was seething; his entire wardrobe had been dyed pink, and according to a few other people in his division, so were theirs. Marco had a feeling he knew who it was, but he needed to see the person to tell. Strangely, the man wasn't anywhere in the Galley.

"Did what…?" Izo spoke up with a raised brow and Ace wanted to hug the man for his acting skills were near perfect. Ace could still see the vast humor in his eyes.

"Who dyed the first divisions clothing PINK?!" Marco hissed out, and almost jumped when a hand was placed on his shoulder and a pissed off Thatch walked next to him with a pissed off air about him, and why was he smelling like pineapples?

"Who decided it would be a fun idea to make the fourth division smell like Marco?" Thatch frowned and rubbed his head when Marco smacked him upside the head, "What? You've got a pineapple-shaped head!"

"And I'm pissed off, yoi." Marco managed to calm down enough that his verbal tick came back, but from the look on Thatch's face, Marco knew that the normal prankster wasn't the culprit. At least Thatch stuck to pranking ONLY Marco and not his entire division.

Thatch frowned and looked around at each person in the Galley, but couldn't figure it out. Who could have pranked both him and their first division commander? Then, like a sack of brick-potatoes, it hit him when he watched Izo and Haruta chattering aimlessly to each other, but why was Ace looking like a ghost visited him? Did they also get him? No, they wouldn't go after a potential new sibling, even more so if they were such a cutie (and Thatch would never admit that to Izo lest he wanted a potential dead sibling and a breakup).

"It was you, yoi." Marco spoke up when he noticed where Thatch's eyes had landed from their wandering. Leave it to the prankster to figure out who pulled shit on him. Now, if only the two would confess… Wait, why was Ace pale?

The looks shared between Thatch and Marco exchanged more than they wanted to know. Either Ace helped or was a bystander. While Thatch was hoping for the first, Marco was hoping to the latter. No need to get more involved in the annoying pokes the three made. Well, Izo normally only poked in when he was ultimately bored. Haruta just pranked to lighten the mood- which is the only reason Marco ever put up with the hell the two could make.

"I don't know what you mean. Why is your clothing pink?" Izo asked with a slight tilt of the head and practiced ease in lying. Haruta just smiled and waved to Thatch, whose face help one of his rare frowns.

"You know full well what I mean, yoi." Marco smirked, "Just remember to sleep with both eyes opened for the next few nights." Marco turned his attention from Izo and Haruta to face Ace and pat his head, much to Ace's annoyance. "As for you, what did you do?"

"If you mean the pink and pineapples; nothing." Ace huffed as he swatted Marco's hand away and wanted to hide in a hole as Thatch walked up and gave Ace a bear hug.

"Then care to explain the ghost-expression?" Thatch asked as he rested his chin on Ace's shoulders and Izo gave a slight glare to Ace, jealous.

"Uh… because there is a pissed off person who just stormed his way over here with a radiating aura of sure-promised pain?" Ace offered as an explanation, which made the entire Galley burst into laughter and Ace couldn't help but give a small smile at the crowd.

"He's right, Birdy-boy!" Thatch spoke up and stuck his tongue out, "Stop being such a grouch!"

"I said pissed, not grouch." Ace frowned.

"Means the same thing for Marco!" Thatch grinned and detached himself from his bear-hug to walk over to Izo and hug him, giving the cross-dresser a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Does not, yoi!" Ace had to admit the two knew how to keep tension down, because the next thing Ace knew he was laughing alongside the crew.

Still… Ace had to wonder idly what the crew would think of when they learned Ace's parentage and about the man who 'raised' him and the man who really helped raise him. But for now, Ace would laugh and contemplate whether or not he would accept Whitebeards offer.

- Ugh, I've lost the spark to write this chapter! -

When Dinner managed to finish, Ace snuck around to the back-end of the ship again to stretch and mentally curse growth-spurts. Not only did they make Ace's muscles sore, his antlers were getting the better of him, Ace had to rest his head on the railings quite a few times during the stretches just so that Ace could work up the strength to finish his stretching.

"Want help with you antlers, yoi?" Marco's voice surprised Ace, and Ace being Ace, kicked right behind him only narrowly missing the blond.

When Ace managed to find the strength to lift his head, he glanced back at Marco and was a bit surprised to see no hostility in the man's relaxed blue eyes. After a quick mental battle, Ace nodded his head and Marco motioned for Ace to follow him.

When Marco arrived to his room, he was a bit surprised to see that Ace was still following and seemed to be a bit on the relaxed side.

"Come on in, Yoi." Marco opened the door and stood out of the way so Ace could try and fit in, which he did with elegant grace that Marco didn't often see Bucks have when trying to go through a doorway. "Sit on down somewhere, and I'll start working off the old layer, yoi."

Ace did just that, but only after fully sniffing out the room (which the pineapples overpowered the room way to much- Izo and Haruta went a little over board on the smell, Ace mentally added), and Marco quickly set to work on using the piece of Adams Wood he had to remove the older layer of ivory.

"I'm sorry about Haruta and Izo, yoi." Marco spoke up after a few silent minuets, filled with out the sounds of breathing and rough wood rubbing against antlers. "They tend to be the worse when it comes to pranks."

Ace let out a soft series of grunts and other sounds and Marco took it as an agreement or something along those lines. "And sorry about the pineapple smell." Marco's grip tightened on the wood, which in turn led to one-too-rough rub on the antler, which led to Ace's undercoat, which was highly sensitive at the moment, which led to Ace jolting at the pain and kicking out, which led to Marco's bed being kicked, which led to Marco having two halves of a bed and broken wall, which led to another room where someone was changing, which led to the changing person to yell bloody murder and that caused the rest of the crew to assemble to try and find out what the heck had just happened.

Ace, despite now having a much lighter head, held his head down and tried to make himself seem as small as possible while Marco tried to calm everyone down and then snapped at the man who had yelled for not yet putting on his damn boxers.

When Whitebeard heard of what had just happened, he let out his deep laughter and patted Ace on the back, who was still in his Zoan form. "Gurarara! Only you would have been able to cause panic on your first day on board! Good going, Child!"

Oh, how Ace so badly wanted to hide. At least no one noticed the now aired out First Division Commanders room.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Lookie! I'm responding to reviews! … For once… and too all four reviews! )**

**Mad Y u e: **uh, thank you! *does Chopper's little happy dance* you know, I didn't even think about that when I agreed to do this challenge! I guess my pal wanted more Chopper-loving… Hmm, you know what; I think I'll put Chopper in this in some way! White Stag and a Reindeer… somehow, I can just see tons of cute moments now… Thank you for that thought. As for being able to control plants; yes. Ace can control plants to a small extent, but his control is sloppy when it comes to controlling the plants and it normally backfires and Ace gets hits by his own power… or when he gets startled and loses control of his power and small grasses spout at his feet if he's in his Stag Form. Again, thank you for the complement! *Chopper happy dance* It's not every day someone is interested in my writing! In fact… my friends seem to be mad with anything I write if it's not M rated and containing Smut… *sniff* You will be able to continue reading these chapters since I don't plan on removing this story nor do I plan to just abandon this story (with the intentions of never returning to it)!

**Onee-Chann1999:** Nice username! Can I really call you big sister? I'd love to have an older sister! Oh, and I'm updating now 3

**Guest: **Err... well, here you go? You can now read an extra chapter!

**CuteCannibalCat: **Never think I'd say a cannibal cat as cute, but nice username. I think I'll stick to my cats that don't eat each other, mkay? Also, yeah, I'm continuing this story. As I mentioned in my first response, I'm not giving up this story for anything. Also, thank you for the complement! My friends don't really say nice things about what I write… *shrug* their loss.

**Notice: I've turned down the rating for now since I don't really think this story will go above an 'M' rating since I've changed the scene over and over so much in my notebook that it now looks like a blurred mess of pencil marks and eraser tears!**

**Notice: Stefan is an Irish wolfhound in this story (big dog) and lacks the beard that normally comes with him!**

**Day 3) Meeting with Stefan**

It was lunch by the time the crew picked up on it, much to Whitebeard's amusement and Marco and Thatch's pure shock. When those two noticed it, Thatch nearly burst a vein in his brain and Marco watched on with fondness in his eyes.

Ace was playing with Stefan and even grooming the dog, who, normally doesn't let people come within eye sight of Stefan if they had a brush in their hand, and Stefan was happily sprawled out across Ace's lap with a rather unnatural dopey look on his face and his tongue hanging out and just barely touching the wooden deck.

The most confusing this about the whole things was that Stefan was being quiet during the whole thing. Normally, Stefan was a very vocal dog who loved to get attention, but hated grooming with a burning passion deep enough to rival the depth of the sea they were sailing on. Stefan also didn't take well to people outside the family and normally Marco or Whitebeard would have to gradually introduce Stefan to the newer crew members while trying to keep the fully trained war dog that could tear apart an army with ease under control.

"How did Ace do it?" Thatch asked in pure horror as he stood beside Marco and Whitebeard and watched Ace and Stefan at the bow of the ship. "How did he…?"

"Gurarara!" Whitebeard laughed with a smile on his face, "Seems Stefan took a liking to the boy." Marco nodded half paying attention to what was being talked about. His attention was much more focused on Ace's expression. The kid's face was relaxed without a care to the world, but there a slight sadness in his eyes.

Sure, he and Thatch had a current goal of getting Ace to relax and open up to the crew and he knew (Marco wasn't sure if Thatch had picked it up yet) but the kid was hiding something and hiding behind something and it was that something the kid was hiding behind that was keeping him from flat out being himself with the crew who would soon become brothers and sisters and father. Marco knew his worry was right after seeing that look that Ace had when he was alone with Stefan. Such a relaxed body posture and sadness should never go together, in Marco's honest opinion (not that he would ever say that to Thatch if he ever asked- damn chef would just make fun of him and call him a mother hen all over again).

"-co." Marco snapped out of his thoughts by Whitebeard's worried voice. "Are you alright, son?"

"Ah, yeah." Marco rubbed the back of his head. Maybe he did deserve that nickname if he was worrying over what he saw. Maybe it was just Marco's imagination- he was lacking sleep from the kicked in wall that Ace had accidently made the day before. "I'll see if I can borrow one of the med beds and crash for the night or something… I'm tired, yoi." Thatch laughed loudly at this, and it caught Ace's attention.

Marco briefly worried that Ace was going to go back to having that semi-blank look on his face and leave Stefan, but was welcomed with a warm sight of Ace getting up and walking over to the three, with Stefan happily following alongside, with that same relaxed body pose.

"Hey." Ace greeted the three people and Thatch was the first to respond.

"I can't believe that you're the first person Birdy-Boy has ever lost sleep over! Never knew Birdy-Boy had it in him!" Thatch laughed again and Ace's face became a nice shade of pink, but before Ace could say anything to be used as ammo against him, Marco cut in.

"He doesn't mean it like that, yoi." Aces blush faded and Marco let out a small sigh of relief. "I did lose sleep however since it's near impossible to sleep with the moonlight hitting my face, yoi."

"Ah…" Ace went into thought for a few moments before he grinned at Marco, "Then you can use the room that I've been in. I'll sleep outside- it's kind of fun."

"Brat," Whitebeard cut in, which is something he normally didn't do, but Marco guessed that today just wasn't going to be a normal day for anyone on board the Moby Dick, "no one is getting sick from sleeping outside while I'm still here."

"Eh?" Ace raised a brow and looked up to face the man's stare, "do try and stop me from sleeping outside. You're not Luffy, so you don't have the same ammo to throw at me." Ace chuckled while shaking his head a little, completely unaware that he had mentioned his younger brother's name until Thatch brought it up.

"Who's Luffy?"

Ace froze and let out a nice little curse that had even Whitebeard laughing. When the three stopped laughing, they got a clear view of Aces- Marco refused to say pout because Ace didn't seem to be the kind of guy to do such a thing- scowl. "Don't go laughing at me when I mention my brother!"

Marco and Whitebeard didn't laugh again, but Thatch did. "Come on, if you were a bird, I'd say your feathers were ruffled up over him!"

"They would be." Ace cut in plainly. "He's a troublesome, idiotic, rubber-brained, bimbo." Ace sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "He can't keep himself out of trouble and is always getting injured and doesn't know how to lie to save his own ass." Ace really wanted to shut up about his brother, but the three he was around gave him the feeling of security. No way was Ace ever going to say that it was because Stefan had curled up around Ace and began to rub his head against the man's legs. Yep, Ace wasn't comforted at all by the presence of animals. Yep, not at all…

"What kind of trouble?" Marco raised a brow and Ace grimaced. "Well… there was this one time he got eaten by a crocodile that was larger than your average tiger… Then there was the time he refused to tell this one guy anything and got beat up for it because he didn't want to sell me out…" Ace paused and smiled softly, "not all his trouble gets him injured however. Luffy made a bet with Shanks after I told him not to go near the pirates... and won…"

Marco had to chuckle at that. "What kind of bet?" Ace, Marco and Thatch hadn't even realized that they had made their way to Whitebeard's room and were currently all sitting around while Ace spoke with a fondness that none of the three had known about before. Whitebeard was just enjoying that fact that Ace was opening up enough to talk about his personal life- and in just two days. Still, opening up didn't mean Ace would agree to become him son. No, Ace reminded Newgate far too much of a certain stubborn man from years back.

"Don't remember, but the bet was the straw hat." Ace chuckled, "Shanks still got it back and then gave it to Lu when he left Foosha a year later." Ace's mind wandered off to his little brother and his wellbeing. Was Makino taking care of Luffy, or was it the mountain bandits? Did Garp pull Luffy early and force him into training to become a marine?

"Foosha?" Thatch spoke up this time, "Isn't that on Dawn Island in the East Blue?" Thatch looked honestly interested and Marco understood that look and let a small smile play on his face. Looks like the crew would be heading for a small vacation in the East Blue if Thatch had anything to say about it, and Marco knew from firsthand experience that when Thatch truly wanted something- he got it.

"Yeah, why?" Ace raised a brow at this, but when Thatch didn't answer, he dropped it.

"Wait…" Marco frowned, "Why did you call him rubber-brained, yoi?"

"Ah…" Ace frowned and rubbed the back of his head before running his hand through Stefan's fur and relaxing. "He… ate a devil fruit. By mistake."

"By mistake, yoi? How does one do that?" Marco wasn't that surprised that Ace's brother ate a devil fruit by mistake, he was honestly suppressed however that he ate a devil fruit at all since the fruits were almost non-existence in the East Blue.

"Shanks brought it with him and Luffy eats that which is edible. Lu claims he thought it was dessert."

Everyone, including Ace, laughed at this, and Marco only weakly pointed out how it must have been a bad-tasting dessert, which caused even more laughs and a simple agreement.

- Lookie, I'm a line break! -

Whitebeard was enjoying himself as he watched Stefan and Ace play around on the deck. Sure, a few of his sons had come up to Ace and warned him that Stefan was a dog trained for war, but Ace had just laughed off their worry with a glint in his eyes that Whitebeard was all too familiar with. Stubborn determination. It was no wonder to Newgate as to why Stefan had taking a liking to Ace. The man was just like Stefan's last best friend who wasn't a member of the Whitebeard family- Roger. Could Ace be Roger son? He had heard rumors that the government was after Rouge and any possible child, but was it possible to hold out on giving birth for a full year or so?

It wouldn't surprise him if it were possible. He had lived his live on the grand line and came to understand that anything is a possibility in life. Still, to have a son and run for a year… Whitebeard had to marvel at the strength of the wife. At least now Whitebeard knew where Ace's strength and will came from that could be seen behind a veil in the kid's eyes.

- Woot, so soon! -

Ace wasn't sure what was more hilarious. The fact that people were telling him to watch out because Stefan was dangerous, or the fact that Stefan seemed to be more like a giant white teddy bear with a playful side.

Speaking of playful sides… Ace had an idea to get back at Haruta and Izo for giving him that fright of a lifetime. A pissed off Marco in pink clothing was not something to take lightly, Ace concluded.

"Hey, Stefan…" Ace called out, getting the attention of both Stefan and Whitebeard, the latter Ace ignored for the time being. "Want to help me with something…" Stefan tilted his head in confusion, and Ace knew he scored the jackpot. Not only did Stefan know what was being said, he could comprehend what was being talked about. "It's a bit of payback on Haruta and Izo…"

Stefan let out a joyous bark that made Ace jump a little, not that he would ever confess to that, and that made Whitebeard chuckle.

"Alrighty… come here," Ace grinned and whispered the plan into Stefan's ear and Whitebeard got to watch as Stefan's tail began to wag faster and faster and then Stefan let out a little whine and then nod, and then happily trot off to do whatever mishap Ace had mentioned.

"Brat, don't cause too much trouble." Whitebeard wanted to laugh at the smirk-grin that was given to him from Ace. Very much like Roger indeed.

"What more trouble can I cause? I've already broken a wall, broken Marco's bed, injured the privacy of a man… honestly, have a little faith." Ace wanted to laugh in joy at the look of worry that was on Whitebeard's face. If Ace was going to get hurt when (IF) he confessed his parentage to Whitebeard, he'd like to have a few good memories of the place to say he was fond of. And of course, Ace's mind picked a bit of a prank to pull as a way to have a fond memory. Well, at least Haruta would be a good sport about the prank. Izo was sure to blow a fuse or two…

"Just be careful, I'm not a hiding pillar when my children are getting themselves into trouble."

"Then I'm glad I'm not your child." Ace huffed and wished that the man would not try to get Ace to join his crew, and before Whitebeard could speak up, Ace walked off to find the cross-dressers room and his make-up stash. He had a father, and it was a shitty one at that. He didn't want another- especially a pirate father.

When Ace found the man's room, he was nearly over taken by the sweet smelling perfume that wafted from the door. Ace's mind however, still functioned and made a sarcastic remark. _At least this room won't smell like sweaty pirates. _When Ace knocked on the door, he was glad that there was no response; that and the unlocked doors in which Ace used to find the make-up he wanted to mess with.

Ace wasn't the sort of person to make a permanent change to anything that someone uses daily, so Ace decided he would just go and hide the stuff all around the ship and would let Thatch enjoy the awkward positions Izo would have to get into to get his make-up back.

As for Haruta, messing with her clothing (and all of it) should suffice.

- Miss me any today? -

Ace was starting to wonder if the rumors of 'the luck the White Stag brings' also includes himself as he tried his hardest to not laugh at the view of Stefan with a pantie on his head and a puffed sleeve hanging onto his tail. Jozu had raised a brow when he walked over, but other than that the man remained silent. It was Vista and Namur, however, who broke the silence.

"What are you doing?" Vista asked as he glanced between Stefan, who was as happy as happy could get with a pantie on one's head, and Ace, who was staring at Stefan with a contemplative look on his face.

"Nothing, but I do have to wonder how Stefan got the pantie on his head…" Ace chuckled and removed the pantie, only to put on Stefan back and watch the dog trot back off to more than likely cause more havoc. Thankfully, Ace was already done with messing with Izo's make-up by relabeling them and hiding them.

"Why did Stefan even have a pantie on his head?" Namur asked after a moment of silence and Ace shrugged. He had only told Stefan to hide Haruta's clothes. Not to go wearing them.

"Let us not speak of this when someone starts asking around where their undergarment went…" Ace mumbled and the two commanders nodded their heads in agreement. Woman could be scary when it came to their clothing and men going through them… even if the one who went through it was a canine and not a person.

When Vista politely excused himself, it was just Namur and Ace standing in the hallway with a weird aura around them. After a highly tense silence, Namur spoke up.

"So… out of curiosity, why did you eat your devil fruit?"

Ace shrugged and rubbed the back of his head, not sure if he wanted to life his shirt to prove his answer- which he would never want to do so to pirates or marines. "I guess… I figured 'what the heck do I have to lose?'… To be honest, it was a stupid reason in hindsight…" Ace gave a short, weak laugh, and then turned to Namur with a serious face, "The only thing I regret is that I'm not wanted by treasure hunters for the legend of unparalleled good fortune. Honestly though? It's a small price to pay, and don't get me started on not being able to swim. I have to tie myself to Striker just to not get killed when I get tossed off…" Ace sank to the floor and moaned in sorrow about all the times he'd had a close call to death when by himself on the sea.

"Sounds tough…" Namur frowned, not truly understanding why Ace would travel by himself on the open seas when he was being hunted down by glory-seekers... Then again, Namur had noticed that Ace was far from normal.

- Why am I using these more often now? -

Haruta was pissed. Izo was pissed. Ace was struggling to not laugh. Marco was amused. Thatch was confused. Whitebeard was laughing full out. Stefan was curled up on his bed and was snoozing dinner away in bliss. Everyone not specified was enjoying the little lovers spat with Haruta tossed in.

"Why did you think it would be a good idea to screw with my make-up?!" Izo hissed out at Thatch, and Thatch was backed up against the wall and pale.

"But I didn't!" Thatch wailed out, arms going straight up. "I haven't touched your make-up! I know those are far off-limits if I wanted to get payback for yesterday!" Thatch was nearly in tears, "Why would I screw with your make-up?!"

Izo had to stop himself from speaking just to make sure he didn't say something that he would regret very quickly. Sure, Izo loved Thatch, but that didn't mean that he couldn't be pissed at him. Thankfully, Haruta spoke up.

"One of you two got Stefan to mess with my clothing!" Haruta growled out, "and don't you dare say you didn't. Neither of you two would dare slobber on my clothing!"

Marco's eyes briefly wandered to Ace, and he smiled at what he saw. Ace was struggling to hold in laughter and looked ready to burst out in any second now. It would seem that Ace had gotten payback for yesterday for the stunt pulled on him and Thatch by Haruta and Izo.

"Well, I didn't do a thing, yoi. I was busy with paperwork. Speaking of which, Ace, mind helping me since you're not doing anything and can out eat everyone in this room?" Marco eyes traveled back to Haruta and Izo as to not draw that anger to the hopefully soon-to-be newest brother. Marco honestly didn't need help with the paper work, but he also knew that laughter was soon to burst, and wanted to get Ace out of the Galley before anything happened.

"Ugh…" Ace faltered at the mention of how much he could eat, and kind of felt bad. He really couldn't control his high metabolism… couldn't when he was younger; couldn't now that he's older. "Yeah, yeah…" Ace got up and left with Marco quickly, who walked to the second division commander's room where Marco had moved all his paperwork until his room becomes available for his use again.

"Alright, yoi." Marco spoke up when the door was shut, "level with me. What did you do?"

"Uh…" Ace paled slightly, but it wasn't in fear. "I mixed up the labels of Izo's make-up and had Stefan mess around with Haruta's clothing… that's it really. They got mad for the exact things I did." Marco laughed a bit at this and just sat down at the way-too-white desk and began to work on the stacks of paper that were piled there.

"Just wait out their anger here, yoi." Was all Marco said before Ace tapped into his mind to keep himself from getting too bored since a bored Ace tends to lead to plants sprouting up and making a mess out of things.

- I'm getting tired -

The sun had already set when Marco finished with his paperwork and got a scare. He was alone in the room. Where had the kid gone? Frowning, Marco placed the last piece of paper on top of the stack of papers and stood up to find Ace before he got into trouble, and was greeted by a rather endearing sight on deck.

Ace, in his Zoan form, was sleeping under a small wooden overhang so that any possible rain couldn't touch him and Stefan was curled up right next to Ace with his nose pointed directly at Ace. If that wasn't cute enough, Stefan rolled over onto his back and Ace let out a small whine and then placed his head on Stefan's exposed stomach.

Marco wasn't sure when it happened, but somehow he found himself curled up, in his phoenix form, next to Stefan and Ace extended his neck to lightly brush against Marco, almost as if he were trying to comfort a younger sibling- Which made sense if Marco thought about all that Ace had said about his younger brother.

Somewhat content that Ace was alright with Marco intruding in on something Marco had no idea on what it meant to Ace, Marco let out a small sigh and fell asleep almost instantly, not even hearing the footsteps that came by afterwards and the familiar deep laugh that was warm and fatherly.


End file.
